Autumn from the Heart of the Home

Branch, the author-illustrator of several cute books and calendars (Vineyard Seasons ; The Summer Book ; etc.), brings her enthusiasm for cooking, entertaining and decorating to the fall months. Her whimsical watercolors, hand-written recipes and reminiscences, and sentimental quotations decorate each page, making it difficult to figure out if this is a practical cookbook/entertaining guide or a visually appealing coffee-table book. The recipes, such as Orange Spiced Harvest Stew (with beef, red wine and vegetables, served in a pumpkin), Roasted Beet Salad with Creamy & Mild Blue Cheese Dressing, and Cranberry Apple Crisp, take advantage of the best nature has to offer. Although Branch includes chapters on Halloween and Thanksgiving, most of her 100 recipes allow readers to make everyday meals special. The book has a distinctly country, New England feel, with its Prayer for a Little Home, sketches of leaves around each page and numerous American Indian-inspired dishes, such as Corn Pudding and Indian Shuck Bread. Serious cooks will be put off by the book's sensory overload, but lovers of Mary Engelbreit-type homey kitsch will lap this up. 4-color watercolors throughout. (Sept. 1) Forecast: Ads in People and Real Simple, along with a six-city author tour, may get women readers interested in Branch's latest. Her previous Heart of Home books and calendars have sold more than three million copies.